Best Bridge for Starfire XII?

[motopsyche]

Greetings all,

Like the clearly joyous Jahn, I'm celebrating the arrival of a '66 Starfire XII. After dismantling the bits and pieces, cleaning, adjusting and reassembling, I am thrilled to be able to bang out a credible take on "Turn, Turn, Turn." What great fun.

One question: I have the original Rosewood bridge in place, but I'm wondering what advantages might be achieved by substituting a metal bridge of the tune-a-matic variety? The intontation advantages seem clear, but what might this do to the sustain and tone of a 12-string? For comparison, I have tune-a-matics on all my other Guild archtops 6-stringers, and I'm pleased with the sonic results there. Is it too much on the 12?

Many thanks for sharing experiences and advice!

Bill

'60 T-100DP
'63 X-175 Manhattan
'64 Starfire III
'66 Starfire V
'66 Starfire XII

 

[matsickma]

All the latest posts for Guild SFXII has been giving me Sellers lament!

I sold my Red 1967 SFXII a few years ago. That guitar came with a Guild Style 13 metal adjustomatic bridge. I had very good performance with that bridge.

By the way...I sold the SFXII because the neck was so narrow- not all that different from a standard SF. I found I could not play it in the open position because the strings were so close to each. The guitar was excellent at playing in the upper frets. My fingers are a little big but I didn't think unusually so. However I decided to let it got because I couldn't get clean notes in the open position.

Has anyone else found that to be a problem with a SFXII?

M

 

[Jahn]

compared to a Ric 360/12, the SF XII is a baseball bat! i have no probs with fretting even down low. personally i like the original RW bridge, Carlo was very surprised it was still there and in great shape, no intonation probs at all.